UK tests drone to deliver medical supplies to hospitals

In the UK, tests are underway with a very large drone, the size of a car, to deliver medical supplies to hospitals to help ease pressure on the country's health system during the new Coronavirus crisis.

James Brooks writes for the Associated Press that:

The first such delivery was completed Saturday, when a large, fixed-wing drone soared into the skies from an Airport on England's south coast. It landed ten minutes later at an airfield on the Isle of Wight 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away, where its cargo of pathology samples was then driven to the local hospital.

“There's many areas in the U.K. that have very poor logistics connections, and this aircraft is a solution to that,” says James Scanlan, professor of aerospace design at the University of Southampton, which is collaborating in the project.

“It carries a very significant load, and we're actually an island nation – we have lots of small communities where something like this could connect people cheaply and efficiently.”

The U.K. is taking a cautious approach. The four-year south coast project aims to develop the country's first air traffic management system to manage both manned and unmanned aircraft in a shared airspace.

Last month, the U.K.'s transport chief announced plans to fast-track trials due to the coronavirus pandemic.

You can read the entire article here.

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